


In the Moated Grange

by ItsaVikingThing



Series: Lost and Found [4]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Chocolate Pudding, F/F, Fluff, This is apparently a real holiday, Yes this AU is still alive and built on an obnoxious gimmick or two, moping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-26
Updated: 2017-06-26
Packaged: 2018-11-19 02:51:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11304210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ItsaVikingThing/pseuds/ItsaVikingThing
Summary: Max has gone back to Seattle for a month during the summer.Chloe is coping with being in LA without Max so, so well...





	In the Moated Grange

**Author's Note:**

> Recently, @Tacology expressed a desire for more of this AU, which got me thinking. Then @Chaosoul got in on the act...
> 
> I wouldn't have written this without their prompting. Naturally, if it's horrible, that's entirely on me!

##### Friday, June 26th 2015

Chloe is fine. She's bearing up. She's getting through this. It's only for a little while.

Chloe is _fine_.

* * *

It's closing time at Parlour Tattoos.

Javier asks, "Is it me or is Chloe moping _again_?"

Alexis sighs. "She is. She is definitely moping."

"She's no longer a teen. Is she allowed to mope this much?"

"Hmm. I think if we tell her to just stop, it could become a union thing."

"I don't understand." Javier props his hip against the counter. "She seemed fine last week. What is causing this mopiness?"

Alexis shrugs. "It's hard to say for sure. You know she's not forthcoming when she mopes."

"I have noticed this about her," Javier agrees. "She talks less readily when she is mid-mope."

"But in the time that I've known her," Alexis says, tugging absently at her earlobe, "her mopery is at its most severe when she has girl trouble."

"What? Not problems with Maxine, you think?" Javier sighs, shaking his head. "Oh, no! I _like_ Maxine."

"I don't think she'd be moping if there was a _serious_ problem with Maxine. I think she'd be stroppy, instead. But we may never know the truth..."

Javier clicks his tongue. "If only there was some way to know for certain..."

"Guys." Chloe puts down her broom and glares at Alexis and Javier. They've been cheerfully discussing her for the last five minutes from behind the counter from an approximate distance of four feet away. "First of all, it's Max. Never Maxine. Second, you aren't funny. Third, I am not feeling even remotely mope-ish."

Javier rubs his chin. "Ah, Chloe. It's well known that nothing _seems_ funny when you are in the midst of a mope-fest"

Alexis nods. "We're just trying to cheer you up, Chloe. You need to snap out of this mo-"

Chloe folds her arms. "Can we never use that word again? That'd cheer me up!"

Alexis glances at Javier. "You see? She needs cheering up. Because she is seriously mopetastic."

Chloe throws her hands up. "What's it going to take to make you stop? Are you going to be like this tomorrow?"

Javier shrugs. "Are you still going to be m-"

Chloe raises a warning finger. "Ah!"

"...making sad faces, I was going to say."

Alexis says, "It's not going to be an issue. Chloe's taking tomorrow off."

"She is?"

"I am?"

Alexis nods, her lips in a tight line now. "You need a day off, Chloe. And if you aren't going to talk to us about what's going on, we need a day off from you, too."

Chloe winces. "Shit. I've not been that bad. Uh...have I?"

Alexis snorts. "What did you say to that man who wanted Justin Bieber ink?"

Chloe blinks. "Uh...I don't remember exactly, but, come on! He had a mullet, too!"

Alexis says, "I may not have heard correctly, but I think you said that the nature of his request was proof that he wasn't competent enough to make a decision about permanently marking his body."

"I did _not_ say that." What Chloe said was, 'Make your first ever good life choice and get the fuck out of here, Belieber.' Chloe's been hoping Alexis didn't heard her say that.

"I'm choosing to remember you said it that way so I don't have to fire you."

So...Alexis definitely heard her say that. "Shit."

Alexis rolls her eyes. "Uh huh. Beginning to see my point?"

Chloe slumps. "I maybe have not been in the best mood lately?"

"Gasp."

"Really."

Chloe grits her teeth. "I'm _so_ glad you're my friends."

Alexis rolls her eyes. "Chloe, I love you. Which is why I'm telling you that you need to go home. And stop mop-"

"Okay! God, I'm going. See you in a couple of days, I guess!"

Chloe doesn't slam the door on the way out, but only because it would make Alexis and Javier even more smug.

* * *

Chloe doesn't really have anywhere else to be, so she goes home.

The problem with _that_ is, going home is a major part of the problem that's got Chloe so out of sorts.

It's not that she's still living in the same tiny, shitty apartment that she's lived in since she moved to LA. It's that there's no one there when she gets back.

Obviously.

Chloe's been on her own since Rachel moved out.

But.

Chloe hadn't even noticed how much this dump was transformed by Max's presence until term ended and Max had to go back to Seattle.

Which is the real problem, the one that's simple to say and so very complicated to explain.

Chloe dumps her keys on the counter and herself face first on the couch.

She confesses to the musty cushion pressing into her face, "I miss Max."

For a week after she had to move out of student accommodation, Max had stayed with Chloe. It had been a little weird at first, for all that Max had spent the night a few times before.

But it had been good, too, waking up to Max every morning.

It's sort of shocking how quickly it became normal. That's a fair summary of their relationship so far: Max keeps working her way deeper into Chloe's heart and making it feel like it's just the way things are supposed to be.

It's been a week since her parents took her back to Seattle.

And Chloe knows that Max is coming back. She's not about to disappear for six years again.

What's chewing at her is this: Chloe's not been able to kiss Max for an _entire week_.

She's not been able to hold Max's hand, or ruffle her hair and watch her huff in annoyance. Not been able to snuggle up to her on this couch, or in bed. She can't just brush her fingers across Max's cheek, or explore the soft, addictive realm of Max's stomach. She's not been able to feel Max's goosebumps or hear Max gasp in response to her touch. She's not been able to breathe in that morning, pre-shower Max smell that makes Chloe feel like a creeper of the perviest proportions for loving it so much.

Chloe's not been able to watch Max scrunch up her nose in thought, take amazing photographs and share them first and always with Chloe, make the dorkiest jokes, skip down the street when no one else is around, or get that look on her face that means she's psyching herself up to say, 'I love you'.

Chloe's not been able to see that look half a dozen times a day for a _week_. That's at least a hundred times she's missed that look already!

Chloe's not been able to look into those eyes and tell Max that Chloe loves _her_ , so close Max can taste Chloe's words on her lips.

And Chloe has to try to endure this separation for another three weeks, because Max landed herself an internship at some Seattle magazine.

Which is great, obviously. But when they were trying to figure out their plans for the summer, Max's magazine work convinced Chloe that she should just stay in LA.

The economics of Chloe's situation don't help.

Keeping her apartment and the costs of her tattoo apprenticeship have left Chloe in a near perpetual state of having to eat noodles to be able to afford the occasional date night with Max.

Chloe's now an actual employee of Alexis', with an only slightly wonky self-inked doe on her thigh and a paycheck to prove it. She was so sure it was the right call to stay in LA rather than to spend money she doesn't have to go to Seattle to have barely any time with Max.

Now that Chloe's pissed Alexis off and is lying facedown on her couch getting the wrinkles in the cushion transferred to her face, it no longer seems like the best possible call.

Chloe groans and struggles upright. "God, this is pathetic. I really need to get a grip."

Chloe digs out her phone and checks the time. She grins. Getting a grip can wait. It's almost time to skype Max.

* * *

When the call connects, Chloe can see that Max hasn't changed out of her work shirt yet. She looks a little tired, and her hair's even messier than usual, and she's the prettiest, and Chloe wishes she could kiss her.

Max smiles into the camera. "Hey."

"Hey."

"Miss you."

"Pfft, Max. You need to toughen up. It's been, what, three days?"

Max sticks her tongue out. "It's been _seven_ days and the only reason I'm not going to hang up on you and your jerk of a face is that I know you've been moping like crazy."

"My face is a perfect gentlemen and I have not been...that thing you said."

"Your face is a scoundrel."

"So's Han Solo. You _love_ scoundrels!"

"Yeah, that's why I love your face."

"...I really miss you. Dude, I've totally been the mopiest pretty much since you left."

"I know. Alexis and Joyce send me updates."

"Traitors."

"So, listen. I have news. Something important has been brought to my attention. It's...going to change things for us, Chloe."

Chloe's heart begins to pound. She wonders if Max's internship has been extended. Her subconscious whispers, 'This is where she leaves you.'

Chloe tries to keep her tone airy, "Oh?"

Max grins. "Chlo. Today...is National Chocolate Pudding Day."

Chloe blinks. "What?"

Max laughs. "I thought you'd be excited!"

"Hmm, well...I guess it's license to eat all the chocolate pudding I want...but I don't have any and the nearest store is so far away Max."

"It's two blocks."

"So. Far. Away."

Max laughs and Chloe's heart slows and her subconscious slinks off to wherever it goes when it's not trying to ruin her day.

"So, about that..."

"Yeah?"

"We should probably find an apartment with a more convenient convenience store, right?"

Chloe's heart accelerates again. She tries to think of something witty to say. "Uh..."

Max's shoulders hunch a little. She says, in a rush, "This week has been the _worst_. Well, the worst since we met again. I don't want to be separated like this if we can avoid it and I don't want to go back to student accommodation, and I've got some money saved, because...uh, do you remember Nicole? She actually sold some of my pictures and she got in touch recently because she wants to do another show, and she thinks I might...well, I mean, I've got enough to cover a deposit and a few months' rent, and I know you want out of that place, and-"

"Max?"

"Is it too much? Too soon? It's o-okay if you don't want to-"

"Max! Yes. I _hella_ want to. Holy shit, dude! Are you kidding?"

"Oh. Well...good!" Max smiles. It isn't long before it becomes a grin. "Just three more weeks. We can go apartment hunting!"

Chloe shakes her head. She's too full of thoughts to speak, too full of energy to sit still. "Max, I..."

Abruptly, she has to choke back a sob.

Max reaches out towards the camera. "Hey! Hey, come on!"

"Shit, sorry."

"Don't be! It's okay."

"It's just..."

"I know. I'm coming back, Chloe. I'm coming home."

Chloe cuffs her eyes. She manages a weak laugh. "Not very smooth or scoundrel-like of me."

"You're a scoundrel with a big heart." Max makes _that_ face, and Chloe sighs.

Max says "That's why I love you. Now. We're watching movies together for the rest of the night. No arguments!"

"Well, duh. Sounds perfect! Buuuut you also need to tell me about, what was it? Oh, yeah! Selling your work? Max, you fucking _rock star_."

"It's not _that_ big a de-"

"Don't think you get to finish that sentence just because I'm not there to punch you. I will save up the punches for later."

"Okay, okay! Thanks, Chlo. But we're doing this properly, alright? I'm going to grab a quick shower, so you have time to go to the store. Because..."

Max holds up a chocolate pudding cup for the camera.

Chloe laughs. "Right! Gotta celebrate this holiest of days!"

"Okay, gonna go. Happy hunting and I'll see you soon."

"Hey, Max?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you, too."

"Well, duh..."

* * *

They stay up way too late that night and Chloe eats way too much pudding, but at least she knows that when she does go to bed, it'll only be her stomach that's heavy.

In between Guardians of The Galaxy and The Lego Movie, Chloe asks, "So you know what else happened today?"

Max grins at her. "The Supreme Court ruling? Yeah! Finally! Don't you think it's amazing?"

And Chloe smiles and looks Max in the eyes through the screen and says, "I do."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, folks!
> 
> Edit: So some people have expressed confusion with the ending. I don't want to frustrate or annoy anyone, but I'll just say here that the celebration of chocolate pudding was not the only significant thing happening that day. A quick google of the date the story takes place on should clarify everything!
> 
> At some point, I'll try to add something more substantial to this series again.
> 
> In the meantime, if the urge moves you to do it, you can always comment below!
> 
> Thanks again and take care!


End file.
